Welcome to Fabulous Friday, a review of the week's news for the LGBT Kos Community. We'll be highlighting some interesting news stories, as well as providing a list of some notable LGBT diaries here at Daily Kos. If you ever run across stories/blog posts/diaries that should be included here, please send a Kosmail to LGBT Kos.
Please note: This is supposed to be a safe space to discuss our issues, so please, keep your piefights where they belong, which is not here. That applies to the meta food fight of the day, the Obama Wars, what have you. It's not that we don't like debate or that we don't have opinions on those issues. There are places for these debates and they are not here at LGBT Kos. We are more interested in the diversity of our life experiences, our cultures, and our dreams of a better tomorrow. We believe that we can create a space to discuss these differences without engaging in the political debates that have often divided our community. If you can't abide by this rule, you'll be asked to leave.
LGBT News - Youth/Education
This first story refers to a new initiative by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
Padres Pledge Support for LGBT Student Athletes
The Padres are pioneers in pledging to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender student athletes. As part of the “Team Respect Challenge” campaign, the Padres will promote an inclusive environment among San Diego school teams regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Padres spokeswoman Sue Botos hopes the baseball team will serve as a role model.
“We signed this challenge so the (San Diego) Unified School District can use the Padres as an example for other schools and other teams to show that this is the proper way to act, and the proper way to treat your teammates and your fans,” Botos said.
'30 Rock': Tracy Morgan sits down with homeless gay youth
As a part of massive campaign to show just how sorry he is about some of his anti-gay comments made at a comedy show in Nashville, "30 Rock" star is taking what is yet again another step in the right direction.
On Friday, Morgan met with GLAAD officials in New York to speak with a number of homeless gay teens, many of whom were disowned by their parents after revealing their sexuality. (Morgan had kicked off this controversy by making a "joke" that he would stab his son if he revealed himself to be gay.)
LGBT News - Transgender
New Restroom Policy for Denny’s in Maine
All Denny’s restaurants in Maine will allow customers to use restrooms in accordance with their gender identity under the terms of a settlement with a transgender woman denied access to the women’s restroom in Auburn.
The Sun Journal of Lewiston, Maine, reports on the settlement reached by Realty Resources Hospitality and Brianna Freeman, who was represented by Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders. The policy reversal applies to all Denny’s restaurants in Maine.
The parties reached agreement in March and announced the settlement Monday. An attorney for GLAD declined to discuss other terms of the settlement, including any compensation for Freeman.
Cities move toward transgender health care
Ten years after San Francisco became the first local government in the nation to offer transgender health care benefits for their employees, other public employers are beginning to follow suit.
Last month, city commissioners in Portland, Ore., voted unanimously to offer employees insurance covering gender reassignment surgery. Portland is in Multnomah County, which began providing similar benefits a year ago.
Berkeley, Calif., officials are working with the city's providers to offer transgender health care, spokeswoman Mary Kay Clunies-Ross said. Similar discussions are underway in Seattle and Fort Worth.
LGBT News - Health/HIV
Two studies show that drugs used to treat AIDS can prevent HIV infection
Two new studies conducted in three African countries have shown for the first time that AIDS drugs taken daily can cut by more than half a person’s chance of becoming infected with HIV through heterosexual intercourse.
The results, announced Wednesday, provide more evidence that the medicines responsible for saving millions of HIV-infected people over the past 15 years may also be the most useful tool for preventing new infections.
In the past 12 months, research has shown that antiretroviral drugs in a vaginal gel can protect women from infection and that in pill form they can protect male homosexuals. A study also showed that when an HIV-positive person starts antiretroviral therapy, the chance of transmitting the virus to someone else falls steeply.
Gay Latinos Fighting Bias, Stereotypes on Many Levels
Carolina Ramos has seen the struggle over and over again. She is the Latino/a services coordinator for the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Community Center in San Diego, where she sees families torn and battered, as they try to come to grips with a child who has a different sexual orientation.
"A lot of people think LGBT issues are one thing, and Latino issues are another," Ramos said. "But for many people, you cannot separate them."
Ramos traveled to Sacramento recently to testify at an Assembly hearing on the subject. In general, she said, health risk factors increase in severity with societal pressures -- and Latinos in the LGBT community have multiple stressors, Ramos said.
LGBT News - International
Rio de Janeiro aims to become world capital of gay tourism
The theatre lights dim and a Brazilian supermodel takes to the stage, tanned legs emerging from a skintight miniskirt.
In the audience, an A to Z of Rio de Janeiro's great and good: pop stars, sports stars, soap stars and would-be stars, flanked by an army of local paparazzi. Clutching a microphone, the model addresses the crowd. "My name is Lea and I am a transsexual," she says, triggering a frenzy of applause and whistles.
The model in question is Lea T, Brazil's first transsexual supermodel. And this is the champagne-soaked launch party for Rio's inaugural diversity week – a celebration of the city's cultural and ethnic differences and an attempt to position Rio as the global capital of gay tourism.
Asian gay couples: adoption is still a challenge
"I think we've come a long way and it was a difficult journey.. My mum resigned herself to the fact that she would never have [grand] kids, and now suddenly she has two."
The words of Faisal*, an openly gay man from India, who now lives in the UK.
Three years ago, he jointly adopted two children with his partner Jacques*, who is French. The children are blood siblings and from a mixed British-Indian cultural background.
LGBT Kos News
In addition to Fabulous Friday, posted every Friday at 5:30pm (ET), we publish a diary every Wednesday at 8:00pm (ET), and an open thread every Sunday at 2:30pm (ET). If you are interested in hosting an open thread or writing a diary for the group, please send a message to the group.
Notable Diaries
LGBT-related diaries from the previous week (Friday, July 8st through Thursday, July 14th) that did not make the recommended diaries list and were not rescued.